The Christmas Cracker Quiz

Worksheet

Christmas crackers are a traditional feature of a British Christmas meal. Two people hold
each end of a cracker and pull. When the cracker breaks open, the person who is left with
the biggest part wins whatever is inside. The commonly accepted history of the Christmas
cracker is that it was an invention of Tom Smith, the owner of a London sweet shop. In
1847, he started selling sugar-almonds wrapped in paper with a twist at either end. There
was a lot of competition so he made the packaging bigger, added a "love motto" and
replaced the sugar-almond with a small present. But the biggest change was in 1860, when
he added a piece of paper with gunpowder that created the exploding ‘crack’ and gave the
cracker its name.

The Christmas Cracker Quiz

In the Christmas cracker quiz, we test your knowledge of Christmas! Working in a group, read through
the questions and choose the right answers.

1 In many countries, people eat turkey on Christmas c The shops are closed and there’s usually a good
Day. Do you know where turkeys come from? film on TV.

a Turkey. The birds are named after the country. 4 At Christmas, lots of men dress up in red outfits
and white beards and say, ‘Ho ho ho.’ Where did
b North America. Sailor William Strickland Father Christmas (also known as Santa Claus)
brought turkeys to Europe in the 16th century. ­originally come from?

c Hungary. A famous chef started the fashion a The Vikings used to dress a man as ‘Winter’.
for eating turkeys at Christmas when he was They invited the bearded man into their homes
feeling Hungary in 1764. and were nice to him in order to please the gods.

2 After finishing the turkey, the British eat a ­special
pudding. The pudding, which was originally
­created by the Celts to honour the god Dagda,
traditionally has a special ingredient. What is it?
a Money! Yes, eating Christmas pudding is
dangerous. You can break a tooth or swallow a
pound coin.
b A prediction! Yes, it’s true. On a piece of paper
you can read what will happen to you in the
next 365 days.
b Father Christmas is based on Nicholas, a bishop
who became very popular after his death.
Children were told that if they left food for
his horse on the anniversary of his death then
Nicholas would leave them sweets.
c The Santa Claus that we all know today was
created by Coca-Cola in 1931 for the company’s
winter advertising campaign. The artist, Haddon
Sundblom, decided to make Santa’s clothes the
same colour as the famous Coca-Cola red.

5 Why does Santa Claus always come down the

c A crown! The person who finds the wise man’s
­chimney instead of using the front door?
crown in their portion of pudding will be lucky.
a Santa is from Lapland. People in Lapland used
3 A lot of people think that Christmas has become
to live in houses under the snow, where a hole
too commercial and that the religious aspects
in the roof was used both as a chimney and a
of Christmas have been forgotten. Why do we
front door.
­celebrate December the 25th?

a It’s the day on which Jesus was born
in Bethlehem.
b Pope Julius I decided it was a good day
to celebrate Jesus’ birth – people already
celebrated pagan festivals around this time.
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Celebrations: The Christmas Cracker Quiz – Upper-intermediate
b Because doors and windows are locked at night
to stop burglars entering. So the chimney is the
only way for him to get into the house.
c Because he travels through the air, and lands
on the roof. The chimney is nearer than the
front door.
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 The Christmas Cracker Quiz
Worksheet
6 The average person in Britain sends 50 Christmas 10 Christmas is a time to think of other people
cards each year. Christmas cards were invented by and the environment. Imagine that you have to
Sir Henry Cole in 1843. Why did he invent them? travel somewhere to see a friend at Christmas.
­Environmentally, what is the best way to travel?
a Because he realised that people would pay for
cards with pictures of snowmen on them, so he a By bus.
could make money from his idea.
b By train.
b Because he worked at the post office, and it was
his job to make people buy more stamps. c By car.

11 The circus is very popular at Christmas, and the

c Because he had lots of friends and couldn’t
circus ring is where the performance takes place.
be bothered writing letters to all of them. He
Which of the following, built in 329 BC, is said to
thought sending a card would be much quicker.
have been the first circus?
7 What is a Christmas cracker?
a Piccadilly Circus
a It’s a triangular object that people place under
the Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve they b Circus Maximus
crack it open and eat the sweets inside.
c Moscow State Circus
b It’s a square box-like object with a figure inside. 12 Robins are often the subject of pictures on
When you open the box, the figure jumps out. ­Christmas cards. What is a robin?
The figure is called Cracker Jack.
a A figure of a man made of snow.
c It’s a cylindrical object that two people pull. It
breaks open and the person with the biggest b A person who takes money from the rich to
portion wins a paper hat. give to the poor.

8 What was special about Christmas in 1644 c A little bird with a red breast.
in ­England?
13 New Year’s Eve is a time for celebration, especially
a 5,000 people died in the Great Christmas in Scotland. However, New Year’s Eve isn’t called
Pudding Plague. New Year’s Eve in Scotland. What is it called?

b It was fashionable to be a vegetarian, so no one a Old Night

ate turkey for Christmas dinner.
b Hogmanay
c An act of parliament abolished the celebration
c Saint Sylvester’s Eve
of Christmas and people had to go to work
as usual. 14 Carols are songs celebrating the birth of Jesus. In
Bavaria in 1818, Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr, a
9 Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas Day.
priest, wrote one of the most popular Christmas
Who said on Christmas Eve: ‘If I could work my
songs of all time, which was first performed on a
will, every idiot who goes about with “Merry
guitar. Which song?
Christmas” on his lips should be boiled with his
own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly a ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’
through his heart’?
b ‘Silent Night’
a The Queen of England in last year’s
royal message. c ‘White Christmas’

b Scrooge in the novel A Christmas Carol by

Charles Dickens.

c Sting in the pop song ‘Fight Christmas’.

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Celebrations: The Christmas Cracker Quiz – Upper-intermediate 2
 The Christmas Cracker Quiz
Worksheet
15 The British send around 125 million Christmas 20 Christmas is celebrated in countries around
cards each year. Santa Claus received 600,000 the world. In Germany people say, ‘Fröhliche
cards and letters last year from children asking for Weihnachten.’ What does it mean?
presents. Santa has his own postcode, according to
a Merry Christmas.
the Royal Mail. What is it?

a XMAS1 b God bless you and your family.

b WC1 XA c Come to our traditional wine drinking festival

c XM4 5HQ
16 Many people have their birthday on Christmas
Day. Which of these people was not born on
­December  25?
a Singer Annie Lennox
b Actor Charlie Chaplin
c Canadian politician Justin Trudeau
17 Christmas can be hard work, so most people relax
the next day. The day after Christmas is called
Boxing Day. Why?
a This is the day when people gave presents
(Christmas boxes) to servants, postmen and
rubbish collectors.
b There used to be boxing matches in the streets
on this day.
c It is traditional for people to throw old things
out of their houses, to be ready for the new
year. These are put into boxes and given
to charity.
18 What happened on Christmas Day in 1914, during
World War One?
a A temporary truce was called, and some British
and German soldiers sang carols together and
played football.
b The war ended, and everyone ate turkey
together and pulled crackers.
tomorrow at eight o’clock and bring a friend.
21 What do people do under the mistletoe?
a Pray for happiness in the year to come.
b Kiss each other.
c Leave a glass of whisky for Santa Claus.
22 Christmas is often referred to as Xmas by many
people. Why?
a Xmas is used by people who don’t have time to
write the full word.
b The X represents the Greek letter ‘chi’ which is
the first letter of ‘Christos’ (Christ). Xmas has
the exact same meaning as Christmas.
c The X represents the cross.
23 How does Santa Claus travel on Christmas Eve?
a On a magic sleigh, pulled by ten
flying reindeers.
b By private plane, or sometimes helicopter.
c Santa isn’t real – he’s actually your mum or
dad – so he doesn’t travel anywhere.
24 The three wise men followed the star to
­Bethlehem. What presents did they take for Jesus?
a Gold, a sheep and a crown.
b Gold, frankincense and myrrh.
c A paper hat, a DVD and a skateboard.

c Nothing – Christmas was cancelled because of

the fighting.

19 What do children do with their socks on the night

before Christmas?

a Wash them so that their feet will be clean on

Christmas Day.

b Hang them on the Christmas tree

for decoration.

c Leave them at the end of their beds for Santa to

put presents in.

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Celebrations: The Christmas Cracker Quiz – Upper-intermediate 3